Bleach: Untold Story
by Andrew Borealis
Summary: That's right, I'm an otaku, as well. This is pretty much what me and a friend of mine would like to think of ourselves as if we were Shinigami. Enjoy! BTW, this is being co-written by ryugetsu. He's the friend I was talking about.
1. The Start of Shinigami Life

Author's Note: So... How many of you (Aside from my friend, KitsuneSK) knew that I was a harcore otaku who happens to like Bleach a lot? This is the first chapter of my Bleach fic, Untold Story. ENJOY!

Disclaimer: Bleach is owned by Shonen Jump and created by Tite Kubo, but the original characters belong to me and a few friends. Because we ROCK!

Chapter 1: The Start of Shinigami Life

Western Rukongai. District number sixty-four. A small child sat by a large tree. He had brown hair, and a pair of glasses. He was sitting alone… Tears flowing from his eyes.

"Why does everyone hate me?" He asked. Directing the question at no one particular, as he was all alone. "They say that I'm some kind of freak…"

**CRASH!**

"DAMMIT!" a man said as he crashed into the ground in front of the boy. He was completely bald, and seemed to have some markings by his eyes. "What _was_ that reiatsu?" He looked around, as if trying to find something. He soon laid eyes on the boy. "YOU!"

"Me?" the boy replied.

"YES!" the man retorted. "Come with me!" With that, the bald man grabbed the boy by the back of his kimono and carried him off at a speed the child could not comprehend.

After five minutes of travel, the pair stopped. They stood in front of a large gate, in front of which stood a man who was larger than most buildings.

The bald man looked at the boy again. "All right, kid, what's your name?" he asked.

"Su-Suzaku…" the boy answered. "Suzaku Hotori…"

"Hmm… Well, you're going to learn to control that reiatsu of yours or you'll find out what _this_ can do the hard way." The man stated, holding up a sword. "and if you get good enough, maybe we'll go drinking sometime. My name is Ikkaku Madarame, by the way."

"But… I'm not old enough to drink…"

"You will be by the time you get out of here. Open up!" Ikkaku called. The man by the large gate nodded and turned, lifting up the large stone door effortlessly.

oOo

"And that's how I ended up at the Shinigami Academy." Suzaku explained. His best friend, Wakka Hokerou, looked at him, not impressed. "The only bad part is the fact that my Kidou Grade _really_ sucked."

Suzaku Hotori and Wakka Hokerou were fresh out of the Shinigami Academy, having yet to make it into one of the Gotei 13. Suzaku was tall, with long, brown hair, tied into a ponytail. His glasses constantly shone in the sun, hiding his eyes from the world. He wore a shihakushou with no sleeves, as he had ripped them off. Wakka was shorter, with shorter, spikier hair, and a determined look always in his eye.

"Well, what Squad do you think you're going to end up in?" Wakka asked.

"Honestly, I'm a shoe-in for Squad 11." Suzaku replied. "Seeing as I'm physically incapable of performing Kidou. What about you?"

"Squad 10. I've always admired Captain Hitsugaya." He stated. Suzaku had always known Wakka to admire Captain Hitsugaya for having the most powerful of all the Water-Element Zanpakutoh. He seemed to love anything wet or frozen, as well as those who could command it.

"Well, we'll find out tomorrow." Suzaku began. "I just hope I don't end up in Squad 12! Their Captain creeps me out!"

oOo

The next day, Suzaku and Wakka found themselves standing in front of the building they had spent the last six years in, the Shinigami Academy. Head Captain Yamamoto was standing in front of the large building, with all of the other Captains standing on either side of him. Captains Hitsugaya, Soi Fon, Komamura, Kuchiki, Ukitake, and Zaraki were on his right, while on his left stood Captains Aizen, Tousen, Ichimaru, Unohana, Kurotsuchi, and Kyouraku. All of them stood proud in their white haori.

"I must take this time to congratulate each and every one of you." Head Captain Yamamoto started, his graduation speech finally underway. "You have spent these last six years studying to become the finest Shinigami our Soul Society has to offer, and I expect great things out of many of you. You will find in the envelopes you have been given, your Squad Assignment. You may open them now, and report to the corresponding Captain. There, you will be given rank, and will begin your new life. Once again, I offer my congratulations. You are now full-fledged Shinigami."

The end of the old man's speech was marked by a loud cheer from the crowd. Wakka and Suzaku looked down at the envelopes they had been given at the start of the ceremony and opened them up.

"Squad 9." Wakka stated, dissapointment flowed from his voice. "I guess I'll have to make due with what I have…"

Suzaku looked down at the piece of paper he had. On it was a cross with a single line below it. "Squad 11. I knew it!" he exclaimed. "It's a good thing I didn't care what Squad I made it into, as long as I wasn't under Kurotsuchi." With that, the two shook hands. "Good luck. We should train together, sometime."

Wakka merely nodded. He turned to make his way towards the blind Captain of Squad 9. Suzaku smiled and turned to face the giant of a man known as Kenpachi Zaraki. He was large, muscular, and had a very strange haircut. It was all spikes, and on each spike there was a bell. He also wore a strange-looking eyepatch.

"Hey, kid." He said, calmly as I walked up to him. "What's your name?"

"Suzaku Hotori, sir." Suzaku replied.

"Easy on the formalities. I just asked you your name." Kenpachi stated. "Welcome to Squad 11. Kuchiki tells me you're pretty good."

Suzaku stared at the large Captain in disbelief. "Kuchiki? You don't mean… _Captain_ Kuchki, do you?"

"Who else?" he retorted. "He tells me that you had to learn to control the size of that Zanpakutoh there as soon as you got it."

"Yeah… It was sorta the size of a skyscraper…" Suzaku said, embarrassed. "Captain Kuchiki was the one who taught me how to shrink it…"

Kenpachi looked at the young Shinigami with a puzzled expression. "So, can you show me?"

"Show you?" Suzaku repeated. Kenpachi's response was a sudden release of his immense reiatsu, which brought most of the Shinigami in the area to their knees, including Suzaku. He then realized what the Captain had meant.

Suddenly, every Shinigami except for the 13 Captains, Suzaku, and Wakka were all lying flat on the ground. Suzaku had let out his reiatsu, merely to be able to stand up. Kenpachi smiled from ear to ear. "Seventh Seat." He stated calmly. Suzaku once again looked at the large man in total awe.

"Seventh Seat?" Suzaku repeated. "Are you sure?"

"You can stand up when I'm letting out my reiatsu, and they say you aced your physical combat. You don't have a higher rank because you haven't released your Zanpakutoh, so Seventh Seat."

Suzaku looked over and flashed a bright grin at Wakka, who was still conversing with Captain Tousen. _This is going to be interesting…_ he thought.


	2. The First Day

A/N: Hey, people, great news! 2 chapters in 1 day! Don't you all feel special? Please, don't feel special. Anyway, I had some help from ryugetsu in this chapter. He actually wrote the majority of it. I came up with the title, and did all the proofreading, and grammatical editing, and made the whole thing flow better, but ryugetsu did quite a bit of writing.

Disclaimer: We don't own Bleach... Unfortunately. Even though we'd probably make it even _more_ awesome.

Chapter 2: The First Day

Things hadn't always gone the way Wakka had wanted, and to say the least being placed in squad 9 was no different. Though he had nothing against the squad or any of its members, that he knew of anyway, he still fealt cheated. He had desperately wanted to be in squad 10 so that he could learn from the child prodigy, or even squad 13 with the sick captain who could command the very seas and lightning itself.

But, Wakka was used to disappointment, so he was able to keep his calm and accept his situation. Much to his surprise it wasn't as bad as he thought. The 9th squad was based around a deep concept of Justice, and that meant that everyone in the squad was very well kept and presented themselves well. The first day at the barracks was actually rather un eventfull. There was no parties like what could be being heard from the 8th squad building next door, and the 10th squad building even seemed more lively. It is apperantly custom in the 9th squad to to treat all new comers as if they had been there the whole time, no welcome pat on the backs or anything. Just a simple "This is your room, keep it clean, no noise after 8:30" from one of the residant 12th seats, then followed up by a "Up by 8 down by 9, work begins at 10, Shower every morning and take care of your own breakfast. Lunch will be provided at 4. You haven't been given a possition yet i assume, so wait here until Lunch, by then we should hav a place figured out for you." and with that the 12th seat left the small cubby that was now Wakka's room.

Wakka kicked off his sandals and removed his shirt. He then proceeded to walk to his small bed. He sat on its side and glanced over the room. Everything was white, no color and no dirt. The floor was the only thing of interest, because even though it was still white like everything else, it was made out of wood planks, and as such had seems that seemed to break up the solid seemless rest of the room. The bed was wedged against the back wall and a window at its side stood shaded by a curtain that didn't seem to have any wrinkles. On the left wall was a small dresser and a place to store his Zanpakutoh. It was apperantly the common opinion in the 9th squad that earthly posessions cloud judgement and distort true justice, so as such the room was very bleek and essential only.

Wakka merely lay in his bed, not bothering to cover himself with the blanket, and he began to stare at the ceiling. Thinking quietly to himself, Wakka began to dose off. Nearly asleep, he heard a shattering noise followed by a wailing screem that sounded eerily like a Hollow. And then a loud speaker came on with a voice that was easily identifiable as the squads own vice captain, Shuhei Hisagi, "All un-seated attendants, please report directly to the great hall. All seated officers are to make your way to Wall of Penance in the West Wing. Imediately!"

Wakka shifted in his bed into a sitting possition, quite curious as to what the comotion was all about. But, instead of letting his curiousity get the best of him he decided to follow orders and get to the Great Hall, which had briefly been shown to him upon his very brief tour of the barracks. As he left his room he could see many of the higher ranks rushing towards the West Wing of the building, and he could also see that his fellow low ranks were headed to the north toward the hall. Wakka overhead one of the seated officers talking as they ran by, Wakka's exceptional hearing allowed him to pick up the gist of the conversation even though they had been moving away from eachother at a decent pace. Wakka thought to himself as he entered into the Great Hall south-side entrance. _Those two said something about a Menos, I think they said something about it being genetically altered by the 12th squad too. Did it escape or something?_ Wakka thought.

Upon entering the hall Wakka could see the 12th seat from before standing in front of the crowd of grunts, it looked like he had two 18th seats on either side of him as well. "Please stay calm, so long as you are in here you should be safe. The experiment won't reach us here." They had said. Wakka remembered that Captain Tousen had said earlier this morning at the graduation ceremony that he would be out on business with Captain Ichimaru this evening and would not be present for the rest of the day. 'That explains why they sent the seated officers in such a number, I am sure if the captain had been here he could handle it by himself... Of course, why isn't the 12th squad taking care of this?'

Several minutes went by… Waiting… Nothing could be heard outside the sound proof walls of the Great Hall. But that all changed when the Western Wall caved in and a great deformed Menos appeared. Its body seemed to be made of the faces and torsos of fallen Shinigami, it had a single arm outstretched from its left side. And through the whole many topless bodies could be seen lying on the floor. A few of the surviving seated officers where still trying to fend off the beast, but to no avail, the Menos seemed to be uneffected by Zanpakutoh. Even Vice Captain Hisagi was having issues with damaging the beast. Kidou ropes flew from the left and the right trying to slow the beast in its path.

"Get out of here, don't try and fight it, you guys won't have a chance against this, someone..." Hisagi exclaimed. He looked at Wakka "You there, I want you to go get help from another squad, I don't care which but we need back up, and don't try the 12th, they're all out of commission at the moment."

Wakka immediately began to follow his orders he ran from the barracks, without knowing really what it was he was going to do but once he realized he didn't know where he was going he had found himself in front of the 5th squad building. _Captain Aizen...Yeah, that'll do!_ and with that he ran into the building and began to search for the gentlemen captain so many admired.

Back at the 9th squad building the battle was geeting worse. The Hollow began to inhale rapidly.

"BE CAREFUL! THIS IS THE ATTACK THAT PARALYZED THE 12th SQUAD! COVER YOUR EARS!" Hisagi screamed as he plugged his own ears. The Menos released a ghastly wail that extended throughout the whole building and all who had heard the scream without having muffled its sound stood frozen in mid action. The hollow reached down and swept up a handfull of paralyzed Shinigami and proceed to devour their top halves, without flinching even despite the effort to stop it initiated by the few left unfrozen. As the Hollow consumed its quarrey it began to grow a new arm, this time extending from its right. The Hollow began an onslought of Cero blasts ass soon as the arm had formed, firing from its mouth and both hands. It was like an arsenal of cannons had all been set to fire and Shinigami began to fall left and right, Until only 3 were Left, and badly wonded at that. Of course, there were those not present at the time, and of course there were those who had only merely been frozen, but only 3 able warriors remained.

The Hollow began ts final attack, a Giant cero formed by fusing its 3 regular Cero into one. Just as it was about to obliterate Hisagi and his two subbordinantes it seemed to stop. And there he was, Captain Aizen Standing shoulder to the hollow and his first two fingers smoking from the energy that had been released and distorted by the captain.

Wakka breathing heavilly behind Aizen who seemed to have arrived effortlessly.

"S-Sorry… that… I'm Late." He said. Hisagi, battered and bloodied, did all he could just to smile, just before he passed out. Now it was merely Aizen and Wakka standing before the terrible beast.

Aizen began to speak "I want you to distract it for me. Do you understand" Wakka looked quickly at Hisagi and then back at Aizen.

"I-I'll do my best." He said, with a hint of shakiness to his voice. With that Wakka drew his Zanpakutoh, its sapphire hilt gleaming in the pale light of the room. He lunged foward and tried to stab the Menos, only to find his sword, too, would bounce off of him. That did not dissuade him, after all, it was only his duty to distract him, not defeat him. Wakka attacked again, avoiding a few swipes from its monsterous hands. He flew towards its bse chanting…

"Right Mans Left, Fire of the Sea, His Majesties Slave! Hado #12 Houka Senshi!" With the spell completed, a shot of green fire shot from the bottom of Wakka's sword thrusting him faster through the air, causing the tip of his sword to pierce the skin of the Hollow. If only a shallow cut, it was enough to work. The hollow seemed distracted, as though it was the first time it had ever felt pain.

Wakka began to Chant again "Hado #4 BYAKURAI!" With that Wakka grabbed the hilt of his sword and sent a current of electricty through his sword into the body of his opponent, causing further pain to the creature.

By this Time Aizen had prepared his attack "You've done well," he started. "but if you don't want to die I suggest you move." He didn't have to tell Wakka twice, he grabbed his sword and leaped out of the way. Aizen said something very quietly under his breath that Wakka, despite his excelent hearing, couldn't seem to pick up on, and then he saw it. The Hollow began to crumble and shrink as if being pulled into a tiny vaccum.

The screams were awful, it seemed inhumane, even for a Hollow, as it shrank and became compact into the size of nothing but a common marble.

When it was through Aizen picked up the marble and cruched it, shattering it into dust. Wakka looked on in fear, never before had he seen such a spell, it was awful, yet so powerful. Speechlessly watching Aizen as he walked towards him. Aizen placed his hand on Wakka's shoulder. "Don't think about it too much," He said. "It was just a terrible experiment. You did well today, and I will inform Captain Tosen of your preformance."

And as he left, those who had been frozen in time began to slowly regain movement. And with that the 9th and 12th squads were saved. A very interesting first day, indeed…

Meanwhile…

Suzaku was having a much easier time with his first day. Everything was going well. The Squad 11 barracks were somewhat peaceful. There was nothing _too_ out of the ordinary. The Captain was showing him around the place personally. Or, at least until he could unload the job on someone else.

"This place seems fun." Suzaku stated.

Kenpachi looked back at the new recruit and smiled. "Kid, you haven't seen anything yet." With that, he opened the door that they had come to. "This is everyone's favorite room."

Suzaku looked upon the sparring room in awe. It was like a more advanced version of the sparring chamber at the Academy. The only real difference was the fact that several Shinigami lined the large room, cheering for the man in the center, who held up a bakouto triumphantly. As Suzaku looked at the man, he realized who it was. Ikkaku Madarame, the very man who got him into this whole thing.

Ikkaku was looking around, getting cheers from everyone in the room. Everyone, that is, except for the Captain. Kenpachi walked up to the bald man and looked down at him with a grin.

"I've got a new opponent for you, Ikkaku." He stated. Ikkaku smiled.

"Who is it? Do I finally get to fight you?" he asked.

"Nope. We have a new kid who needs a decent fight." Kenpachi replied as he stepped aside. "Suzaku, you fight Ikkaku."

Suzaku grinned, anxious to see what he could do against this guy.

"Hey, aren't you…" Ikkaku started.

"Yep." Suzaku said before the sentence could end. "I'm Seventh Seat, what about you?"

Ikkaku stared at him in disbelief. "How can you be Seventh Seat? It took me years to get to Third Seat! How can you get so high up on your _first day_?!"

Suzaku didn't answer, he merely unleashed some reiatsu. Ikkaku, as well as several others, found themselves lying flat-faced on the ground. Kenpachi smiled as he followed suit, showing the Squad the comparison between the reiatsu of the two Shinigami.

"That's why." Kenpachi stated. The two of them suppressed their reiatsu in order to allow the others to stand. One of the many onlookers handed Suzaku a bakouto.

Suzaku faced his opponent. _I don't know how this guy fights… So I'm going to have to be…_

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door swinging open and hitting one of the Squad members against the wall. Suzaku turned around to find a little girl standing in the doorway. She had pink hair, and stood less than three feet off the ground, but surprisingly enough, she wore a Vice-Captain's badge on her left arm.

"KEN-CHAN!" she screamed as she bounded over the arena. "So where's the new kid?"

Kenpachi didn't say anything. He merely pointed at Suzaku. The little girl scurried over towards him, a curious look on her face…

"Glasses?" she said, Suzaku was extremely confused. Yes, he wore glasses, but it was still strange.

"My name is Suzaku Hotori. I'm a new recruit here in Squad 11." He stated.

"Nice to meet you, Suzy-chan, I'm Yachiru!" the girl exclaimed as she patted him on the leg. "I'm one of your bosses!" Upon hearing Suzaku's new "nickname", the entire crowd burst into simultanious laughter.

"Oh my god!" one man said. He had strange looking straw-like things coming from his eyes. "That is the _worst_ nickname the Vice-Captain has ever given!"

_Great…_ Suzaku thought. _First day, and I'm already a laughing stock…_

--

(A/N: Houka Senshi Rocket Stab, fan-made Kidou, strange, but effective, don't you think?)


	3. Release, Part 1

(A/N: Newly added note... ryugetsu does the writing for Wakka's major parts, and I do Suzaku and the two of them together. in case you didn't know, ryugetsu doesn't have the best grammar skills, but he's insanely creative. I sorta prefer that over lack of grammar and edit the rest as best I can. Anyway, SHIKAI!!)

Disclaimer: Once again, we do not own Bleach. Tite Kubo made that awesomeness happen, despite the fact that ryugetsu and I can make it so awesome in this particular fic.

Chapter 3: Release, Part 1

The Living World… This was a place Suzaku had rarely been to before since entering Soul Society. He and Wakka had been stationed there recently. They were walking through the streets of Northern Tokyo, wondering what to do with their newfound spare time.

A few months had passed since the two of them had graduated from the Shinigami Academy. Wakka had been telling Suzaku about his exciting first job on his first day. He normally didn't brag, but he liked to see Suzaku look jealous.

"Yeah, and all I got was a weird nickname from my Vice-Captain…" Suzaku stated. "Now she likes to sneak up behind me with the occasional "HI SUZY-CHAN!" every day, making the entire 11th Squad burst into laughter… It's not exactly fun…"

Wakka chuckled. "Well, then, why don't we see if there's any souls who need Soul Burial?" He asked. He didn't wait for an answer, but merely drew his Zanpakutoh and sped off in some random direction.

_Man, he doesn't waste any time…_ Suzaku thought to himself. _Oh well… I can work towards Shikai while helping souls…_

Suzaku sat on top of a large skyscraper, concentrating. He knew how to enter the realm of the Zanpakutoh, as he needed to speak with its spirit in order to decrease the blade's size. Now, all he had to do was learn the name of the weapon.

After about an hour of pure concentration, Suzaku found himself floating in an endless blue sky. The clouds were all around him, pure white and flowing with the gentle wind. The sun was shining brightly, and he could feel its warmth. For a world that existed inside him, it wasn't half-bad.

As Suzaku was getting used to his surroundings again, he noticed something blocking the sun. It was actually something much smaller, but grew as it sped towards him. By the time the large object had reached him, it was five times his size. It had dark red-orange feathers, and would occasionally flare up in a bright burst of flame. It had golden armor-like markings chiseled out all over its body, and its gigantic wings were spread to their full length.

"Good to see you." Suzkau said. The large phoenix nodded.

"Good to see you, too." It replied. "I take it that your being here means that you feel ready to use my powers?"

Suzaku nodded. "Yes. I would like to finally learn your name."

"Very well… My name is Kairihou." The phoenix stated. "Remember this name. When you call for me to take to the sky, I shall appear. I expect you will find out what I can do on your own. I trust you enough."

With that, Suzaku was once again sitting on the skyscraper, with Wakka standing behind him.

"So, how is your Zanpakutoh?" he asked.

"How did you know I was talking to my sword?" Suzaku retorted.

"Well, it's about the only time you ever concentrate." Wakka joked. "Didn't you know that?"

Suzaku scoffed at his friend. With the joking over, the two of them heard a loud, hideous scream. A Hollow had appeared.

"Hey, Wakka," Suzaku started. "If you'll let me take care of this one, I'll show you something _really cool_."

Wakka merely looked at his friend. He nodded, and the two of them rushed to the location of the Hollow. It was rather large. Its face looked like that of a large bear, and its body looked like it would have taken up the entire training room in the 11th Squad barracks. The creature had blades of bone on either arm, and was about to strike the soul of a young boy whose Chain of Fate seemed extremely long.

"All right, I'll take this one for sure!" Suzaku exclaimed. Wakka was about to say something, but his friend was already off, Zanpakutoh drawn and ready.

He rushed forward and sliced part of the outstretched arm of the Hollow. The creature roared in pain as it reeled backwards. Suzaku merely smirked and charged forward again.

"He's definitely in Squad 11…" Wakka stated to no one in particular.

"All right…" the longhaired Shinigami began. He brought his sword up to the point where the blade was facing upward, and the point was towards his foe. His hand was pivoted, as if to make it look like the blade of the Zanpakutoh was coming out of his arm. "Take to the sky! Kairihou!" With that, the blade began to glow. There was a blinding white light covering the area. When the light cleared, Suzaku looked at his arm. His Zanpakutoh had become an arm-mounted sword, about two and a half feet in length. There was a handle for him to grasp under the blade that was sturdily attached to the rest of the weapon. On the back of the weapon, which was covering his entire forearm up to the start of his elbow, he noted the symbols for fire and wind. "Cool."

Wakka stared. His friend had finally achieved Shikai. He looked in slight amazement as the tall Shinigami continued the battle.

Suzaku was easily able to maneuver around the bear-like Hollow's massive attacks. Seeing as he was smaller than the creature, he was able to move faster than it was, making dodging, literally, a breeze. He couldn't explain it, but it felt like the wind was guiding him. He also felt this burning power, telling him just where and when to strike. He breezed between the strikes, and jumped up to land on the Hollow's oversized arm. He ran up the arm and made a single strike on the creature's face, cleaving its mask in two and causing it to disappear.

"Impressive." Wakka stated, walking up to his friend. "If you don't mind, I'll perform the Soul burial."

"Thanks." Suzaku answered. He brought his blade up and swung it downwards, turning it back into its sealed form. With that, he put his Zanpakutoh back into its scabbard, ready to go fight some more.


	4. Release, Part 2

Sorry for taking so long... And I'm sorry if this chapter bores you all as well, it's all part of a bigger thing for the Release saga. Trust me, you'll like it.

Chapter 4: Release Part 2

Shikai… Suzaku finally had it. He was truly amazed at what it could do. It made him a nearly invincible fighter… But, for some reason, he didn't feel like he could do much more with it…

Suzaku and Wakka had just finished killing their tenth Hollow of the day. This one had been particularly easy with the cool usage of Wakka's Kidou skills and Suzaku's Kairihou. They had just finished preforming Soul Burial on a nearby soul when the alert went off once again.

"All right!" Suzaku exclaimed, once again drawing his sword in its sealed form. Wakka merely looked at his over-excited friend and shook his head.

This Hollow had only been ten miles away, so it merely took a single Shunpo to make it. It was large, and resembled a squid in some fashion.

"You ready?" the long-haired Shinigami asked.

"As ready as I can get." Wakka replied.

"All right…" Suzaku said as he raised his Zanpakutoh. "Take to the skies! Kairihou!"

Suddenly, Suzaku found himself once again in the vast expanse of blue sky… Why he was there, he couldn't understand…

As he floated there, the temperature started to rise, and suddenly, Suzaku realized he wasn't alone.

Kairihou was there with him.

"I'm sorry…" the phoenix started. "But I was mistaken…"

"About what?" Suzaku questioned.

"About you… You're not ready for Shikai after all…"

Suzaku's eyes went wide. "But, I already know your name! There's nothing we can do about it now!"

Kairihou lowered his head. "That is not true… I choose to respond whenever I'm called out, but until you can prove yourself, I will not come to your aid…"

"Why not?" was all Suzaku could manage.

"Because you are only relying on the power that _I_ give you… You fail to realize that I am a part of _you_! I can only achieve my true potential if you use your own power along with mine!" Kairihou stated.

"It would help if I had something to offer…" Suzaku said. Doubt had filled his mind ever since he went to the Shinigami Academy… He knew he had a lot of reiatsu, but he didn't think that meant anything… Not to mention the downfall his confidence took when he first tried Kidou...

(_flashback_)

It was the first time he would ever preform Kidou… Suzaku was rather excited. He had heard that someone in the Advanced Class was able to completely vaporize the target, so he wanted to show how good he was by doing the same…

"Group 3, come it is now your turn!" the instructor shouted. Suzaku and his classmates lined up behind the line.

As if by choreography, the students started the incantation. Suzaku raised his hands and did the same. As the incantations neared their ends for the other students, a red light began to form in front of their hands. Suzaku, however, was severely lacking in that department… Or so he thought…

"Hadou 31: SHAKKAHOU!" they all shouted. Nine shots of burning red energy flew towards their targets, striking them dead on. But there was one shot that didn't even show up…

"Hadou 31: SHAKKAHOU!" Suzaku cried as the red light forming around his rear end shot out at the students and building behind him… His body was scorched, and the Academy itself had taken serious damage…

This was embarrassing… Even Renji Abarai of the Advanced Class for the year just ahead of him had not preformed this miserably… At least his was showing up in the right place…

(_fade back to now…_)

"You have power of your own…" Kairihou continued. "But you need to learn how to bring that power out… When you can, I'll know, and you _will_ see me again."

Suzaku faded back into the world, watching as Wakka finished slicing the mask of the squid-like Hollow.

"Where were you?" Wakka asked.

"Just a sec…" Suzaku replied. "I have to try something…" Suzaku raised his blade. "Take to the skies! Kairihou!"

Wakka shielded his eyes, expecting the usual flash of light… But nothing happened… Nothing at all…

"He really did it…" the Shinigami said. "He really did it…


End file.
